Answering and Discussing All Mission Trip Questions

Tag Archives: hungry

While looking around for a video to share with you guys, I stumbled upon this one and decided to watch a bit.

Turns out, I watched the whole thing and decided to change what I was originally going to post for this week to discuss his points. It is strange because I agreed with some of the things that he said, but overall I think that he was a bit misguided.

Here’s a little overview of what he says:

1) His main argument is that the people who go on mission trips go with Bibles in hand to witness to the people in these foreign lands; he is appalled by this because he says that what we should be doing is coming with food and intent to build shelter and wells for these people.

The thing about it is that there are different kinds of mission trips: relational ones where the intent is to minister and then ones where the main focus is to feed the hungry and lighten their load by building bridges and houses.

A lot of times the relational trips that he is speaking of will go to Europe or stay here in America where people are fed physically but need to be fed spiritually.

Of course if someone is serving in the middle of India they are not going to just merely share their testimony; that person will get down into the dirt and really help the people there. They will work with the prostitutes, the lepers, and the hungry because setting an example is the best kind of serving there is.

2) His next point was that many mission trips are a week or two weeks long, and what good can you really do in two weeks?

This is one that I somewhat agree with, but I really think that it is just the way that you look at it. I will always stand by the fact that as Christians we are called to serve and to share our blessings with those who are not as blessed as we are.

For some that will take different shapes and forms.

Some will be lucky enough to dedicate their lives to missions (hopefully me), some will only be able to give money, and some people take a week out of hectic schedules and get to serve during that time.

What is important is that we are serving at all since that is what we are supposed to do, no matter how long we serve for.

3) He makes one final point that sometimes instead of raising all the money you need to go on a trip, why don’t you raise that money and send it over to someone who is already there?

Strangely enough this is the one that I agree with the most.

Mission trips are not for everyone. They are not for the faint of heart, and like I said earlier people can serve in different ways.

One thing that is kind of bad about our generation is that sometimes it seems like people go on trips because it is becoming a cool thing to do not because they are called to. If this is the case, then absolutely send the money to people who are already there, for you are not doing anyone any good if you are going just because you want that Facebook picture.

However, I do think that if it is something on your heart, go. Trips have the potential to be life changing, and God always provides.

I am grateful for stumbling upon this video, for it truly is thought provoking.
What are your thoughts about it? Share with me below.